Cedi Osman is slumping, so Cavs might need to trim his minutes

I have to give him his credit; this season, Cedi Osman has rebounded pretty well from a tough last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He shot just 30.6 percent from three-point range, which was a career-low, which was underwhelming after he hit 38.3 percent from three the season prior, which was a career-best.

It’s not all on Osman for last season, though, as he was moved to primarily a bench role, and at times because of the team ravaged by injuries, he had to handle some de facto lead playmaking duties for stretches. There were role inconsistencies for him, which didn’t help his cause. But the results, with him in Year 4, were not great.

As we alluded to, Osman has fortunately been shifted to more of a bench catch-and-shoot, and energy/glue guy role this season on the wing, which is how things should be.

On the year, with him more efficient, and still providing quality, timely cutting mixed in some multiple effort plays off the bench, much of his season would qualify as bounce-back worthy. He’s hit 35.9 percent from three and had 10.7 points per outing, and leading into mid-December, I’d say, he was really getting it done.

Nonetheless, as many have come to expect from Osman, who has always been hot and cold, he’s again, much like plenty of last season, in a bad slump. It’s understandable, frankly, and he recently missed a six-game stretch in COVID-19 health and safety protocols; so I’m sure took a bit to get himself right.

Objectively, though, dating back to before that absence, a bit after him missing a few games in late November/early December, Osman has connected on 27.8 percent from three in his last 15 appearances. His effective field goal shooting clip has been just 43.2 percent in that span.

One would have to assume not having Ricky Rubio since he’s come back COVID hasn’t helped Osman, but it’s beyond that, and he’s not seemingly getting to his spots for looks how he was earlier.

Now, I get it with Cedi, and he’s still a player who can give Cleveland a spark in time off the bench; I do just think that at this juncture, it might be sensible for the Cavaliers to trim his minutes some.

The Cavs might want to trim down Osman’s minutes some, with him slumping.

Instead of around 22.6, which Osman’s had this season, perhaps they cut that minutes-share down, and mix up some lineups with Dean Wade playing more, as he’s barely been of late. Granted, based on Cleveland’s approach throughout the season with bigger starting lineups, Wade seems likely to be re-inserted into that group, with Lauri Markkanen’s high ankle sprain and him reportedly expected to be out for “a while,” per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

And aside from Wade, I’d imagine at times, Lamar Stevens goes in at the 3. I’m well aware of Lauri Markkanen’s minutes typically, and Wade won’t get nearly that amount, and Stevens will likely get some at the 2 still.

Dylan Windler, regarding 2 minutes, has done some nice things on both ends for Cleveland of late too, for what it’s worth, and seems to gaining confidence. I could foresee him getting some at the 3 also, as he has, and given Osman’s not much of a defensive presence on-ball, anyway.

With Wade, however, even with him oddly missing four free throws in Cleveland’s sloppy win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, and him only at 32.1 percent from three this season, as opposed to his 36.6 percent three-point clip last season, he is one of Cleveland’s best defensive players. And like Stevens, he has real versatility on that end.

That to me would have been a logical spell for Markkanen in some stretches prior to his injury, whereas Osman has still defensive issues on-ball, and with Cedi in the aforementioned slump, Wade should receive starter’s minutes there. Osman will spell Wade some, but I wouldn’t think it’s wise for him to regularly be at 20 or so in upcoming weeks.

Maybe Stevens there in some stretches at the 3, for defense, could be a sensible move, too, to reiterate, and while he’s not the catch-and-shoot threat of Wade, he’s a quality cutter as well, and his on-ball growth has been notable this season. So that’s something to keep in mind; the knee soreness of late has to be factored in, though, as he had missed Cleveland’s prior two games before the OKC one.

Along with those suggested other options, of course, if the Cavs were to acquire a piece such as Terrence Ross, Kyle Anderson or Harrison Barnes, rumored potential targets, if Osman were to stick, they’d clearly be threats to Osman’s minutes also. If Cedi were even in the rotation at that point would be up in the air, in my opinion.

Possible draft targets such as A.J. Griffin, Nikola Jovic or Christian Baun could be, as an alternative heading into next season, too, for what it’s worth. Both ends of the spectrum could make Osman and/or others expendable looking past this season, as an aside.

In the short term, based on this slump, and with the ups and downs in recent seasons, Cleveland might want to cut Osman’s minutes down some, as they did in two of his past three appearances prior to the Thunder game. In that one, he had 19.

This will be a storyline to watch in upcoming games.